Got me thinking
Nov. 9th, 2005 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerWebsnark had a good essay on What good is Nanowrimo?
One of the first professions I ever wanted to have was "writer". Probably because I was (and am) a voracious reader. I was always good in English, highly literate and literary, smart even if I say so myself. It was a natural progression. What could possibly go wrong?
Just that I never... had that spark of talent.
It took a while to realize. I'd write long, rambling stories that were incredibly derivative of whatever I'd been reading. I'm sure they were crap besides, but some of that is fixed with experience. Many professional authors state that what they wrote as kids was crap. Practice would have improved the technical aspect of my writing.
What can't be fixed is the lack of originality, of inspiration, of muse.
It's been educational reading posts from professional authors, and friends who are striving to get to that level. Writing isn't necessarily easy for them; Neil Gaiman talked candidly about hitting the "Can't write for toffee stage". But he, and they, get through it with work and produce works of beauty.
Those who can create in that fashion, I respect. I do envy them somewhat. But -- like hand-eye coordination -- it's not a talent that I will ever possess. I'm not fishing for compliments or wallowing in self-pity here; I can't change that.
I can wish for what might have been, though.
One of the first professions I ever wanted to have was "writer". Probably because I was (and am) a voracious reader. I was always good in English, highly literate and literary, smart even if I say so myself. It was a natural progression. What could possibly go wrong?
Just that I never... had that spark of talent.
It took a while to realize. I'd write long, rambling stories that were incredibly derivative of whatever I'd been reading. I'm sure they were crap besides, but some of that is fixed with experience. Many professional authors state that what they wrote as kids was crap. Practice would have improved the technical aspect of my writing.
What can't be fixed is the lack of originality, of inspiration, of muse.
It's been educational reading posts from professional authors, and friends who are striving to get to that level. Writing isn't necessarily easy for them; Neil Gaiman talked candidly about hitting the "Can't write for toffee stage". But he, and they, get through it with work and produce works of beauty.
Those who can create in that fashion, I respect. I do envy them somewhat. But -- like hand-eye coordination -- it's not a talent that I will ever possess. I'm not fishing for compliments or wallowing in self-pity here; I can't change that.
I can wish for what might have been, though.
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Re: Hmm. Bunnies!
Date: 2005-11-09 07:14 pm (UTC)The idea to write something derivative is an idea. Writing a thinly disguised version of yourself? That's an idea. Write / with Kirk and Picard? Idea. But not very original, not very complete, not big and strong ideas.
You write the little ideas, and they get bigger. And bigger. Until the thinly disguised you is someone else, and the derivative piece is merely a part of the genre, and the / scene is the relationship between Aubrey and Maturin over 18 books. Little ideas, gotten bigger.
The POINT of NaNoWriMo is to write. Don't worry about the ideas, write. Stop editing in your head, write. Just slap the words down. I'm not good at it yet, but it has definately improved my writing in general.
Here's five bad ideas for you: 1. What would a Runequest Trollball cookbook look like? 2. What style of commedia would Chalion have? 3. Was Shakespear actually a transvestite? 4. And named Francois Basson? 5. What if Ambrose Bierce and some of his writings were under the concrete slab in your garage and you found him?